Swap Drop and Roll: A SatisFactory Pokemon Guide

warning i kind of swear a lot so if you're a lil baby don't read on!!!

hi. battle factory is the only part of pokemon this jaded trainer has fun with anymore, but boy, can it ever be taxing. i finally got my coloured symbol, and it took me 340 hours over the course of a couple years to earn it. you may be thinking 'well if it took you so long maybe you arent the best person to be taking advice from!' and i must insist that such a statement is really hurtful and also kinda wrong. the amount of chance involved in the battle factory is positively heart-breaking. 4th gen really upped the ante on just how much shit a person must eat before getting their 49 wins. granted, 3rd gen only required 42 wins, but i beat the 3rd gen factory in five hours. if trends continue, 5th gen factory will take me somewhere around 23 000 hours.

firstly, if you're interested in undertaking this cruel endeavor, you may be asking yourself 'will it take me 340 hours?' the answer is a definite probably not. i say with candor that i think i just had an overwhelming amount of bad luck. you can probably do it in much less time, especially if you follow my helpful hints. so, young aspirant, take heed of my warnings and suckle at the teats of experience and regret!

also im only talking about open level here because this is called 'Swap Drop and Roll: A SatisFactory Pokemon Guide' not 'Pussy Shit for (BAN ME PLEASE)'

this is your new bible. jumpman16 is your new god. pray hard like a pious pope.

each pokemon has 4 sets. as a general rule, set 1 is the worst while set 4 is the best, though there are many exceptions. battles are fought in waves of 7 rounds. i will refer to each set of 7 as a wave, and each individual battle as a round. for the first six rounds of a wave, you will only encounter mons whose sets match your current wave. for the seventh and final battle, you will face mons from the wave after. simply put, for rounds 1-6, you will fight set 1 mons. for round 7 you will fight set 2 mons. for rounds 8-13 you will fight set 2 mons. for round 14 you will fight set 3 mons. this continues up until you would progress to set 5 mons, but since set 5 doesn't exist the game just starts to mix it up with having trainers use mons with differently numbered sets in the same round. round 28 is the first round you will be able to see a set 1 mon and a set 4 mon in the same round, for example. from then on, you you will continue to see trainers with mixed sets.

there are some exceptions. the main one is that, due to item clause, you can never face a pokemon with an item one of your pokemon, or a pokemon you could have taken during the last battle/opening 6, is carrying. say its round 8. your opening roster contains set 2 cradily. the nice lady tells you the opponent is carrying a skarmory. whether or not you take that cradily, you know for certain that the skarmory you are about to face is set 1, since set 2 uses leftovers and so does your potential cradily. you also know that the opponent's other mons are set 1 as well. if it weren't obvious, the same applies to pokemon you could potentially battle. in this situation, you also know for certain that whether or not you take it, cradily will not be seen in round 8, and skarmory will not be seen in round 9.

the rules are different for thorton, who you face during round 21. he can use legendaries and they will be of random set. however, any non-legendary he uses will always be set4.

GENERAL TIPS

the factory is soul-crushing simply because there are too many threats. in third gen factory you could have a team that would be literally unbeatable. this is not possible in fourth gen. even the most cosmetically indestructible teams can lose to that errant walrein, that rogue umbreon. i have been 3-0'd with set4 zapdos/set4 garchomp/set1 heatran by set2 quagsire. it doesn't feel good. it is misery. just before i finally got my coloured symbol, round 48 got my heart thumping. my team was set1 porygon2, set2 gardevoir, and set2 venusaur (the obvious strategy being paralyze with pory, leech seed with venu, and start calm minding until god summons the locusts). the opponent led with infernape. it used close combat to 1shot pory, and i realized that if this was set4 infernape i lost, and if it was set1 and decided it would be more in its favour to fire punch instead ko with uturn, i could win. it was set1, it did fire punch (i suppose it doesnt prioritize uturn due to the 'drawback' of swapping out), and i managed to seal the game with a well-timed sleep powder from venusaur. so much of the game comes down to 'oh well, if its x i win and if its y i lose', but there is a lot you can do to minimize the chances of those situations ever coming up, and even more you can do to reduce the toll said situations can take on both your streak and your psyche.

how the opening roster works, thanks to team rocket elite:

Battle Factory Open level swapping

In Round 1, you get 6 Set 1 Pokemon and they all have IV0.

In Round 2, if you swapped 7 times, you get 5 Set 2 Pokemon with IV 4 and 1 Set 3 Pokemon with IV8
In Round 2, if you swapped 6 or fewer times, you get 6 Set 2 Pokemon with IV 4

In Round 3, if you swapped 14 times, you get 4 Set 3 Pokemon with IV 8 and 2 Set 4 Pokemon with IV12
In Round 3, if you swapped between 7 and 13 times, you get 5 Set 3 Pokemon with IV 8 and 1 Set 4 Pokemon with IV12
In Round 3, if you swapped 6 or fewer times, you get 6 Set 3 Pokemon with IV 8

In Round 4, if you swapped 21 times, you get 3 Set 4 Pokemon with IV 12 and 3 Set 5 Pokemon with IV16
In Round 4, if you swapped between 14 and 20 times, you get 4 Set 4 Pokemon with IV12 and 2 Set 5 Pokemon with IV16
In Round 4, if you swapped between 7 and 13 times, you get 5 Set 4 Pokemon with IV12 and 1 Set 5 Pokemon with IV16
In Round 4, if you swapped 6 or fewer times, you get 6 Set 4 Pokemon with IV 12

In Round 5, if you swapped 28 times, you will get 2 Set 5 Pokemon with IV16 and 4 Set 5 Pokemon with IV20
In Round 5, if you swapped between 21 and 27 times, you will get 3 Set 5 Pokemon with IV16 and 3 Set 5 Pokemon with IV20
In Round 5, if you swapped between 14 and 20 times, you will get 4 Set 5 Pokemon with IV16 and 2 Set 5 Pokemon with IV20
In Round 5, if you swapped between 7 and 13 times, you will get 5 Set 5 Pokemon with IV16 and 1 Set 5 Pokemon with IV20
In Round 5, if you swapped 6 or fewer times, you will get 6 Set 5 Pokemon with IV16

his 'round' is my 'wave'. i must express my confusion at these numbers though, since its impossible to swap 7 times going into wave 2 ?_?. subtract 1 from each number given, i guess.

it is worth noting, too, that if you've swapped every time, you can start seeing legendaries in your opening roster as early as wave 4, albeit rarely. while continuous swapping can make round 21's thorton more challenging (its very possible for you to have a badass team going into the fight with him and not wanting to trade anything), i assure you it's worth it in the long run. most legendaries are amazing, and getting one for wave 4 can trivialize said wave, allowing you to continue swapping with ease and in turn increasing the odds of you getting a legendary in your opening 6 for waves 5 and above. remember that your goal is not to beat thorton once, but twice, and that making the first battle against him harder with repeated swaps effectively makes everything up to and including thorton 2 easier.

switching is death. don't do it early in your streak. up to a certain number of matches the AI uses moves randomly (battles 1-20, and then 22-a random number. i have yet to figure out what causes the ai to start using the right move. i thought it was swaps but its not). the AI will never start being smart in the middle of a match, even if it seems like they have through their continuous stream of 'correct guesses'. thorton will always use the correct move. switching is only acceptable if you have access to the factory mon database and can ensure that none of the moves the opponent can use will compromise the mon you intend to bring in. switching becomes easier when the AI starts to use the best move, as there is no element of prediction; you know exactly what move they are going to use. this can allow for some sneaky shit (toggling between a jolteon and gyarados vs a set 4 electivire [eq/tpunch/ice punch/fire punch] until it was out of tpunch pp and i could set up some dragon dances with gyara). the only other time i recommend switching is if you're confused/attracted. these afflictions, while borderline laughable in 6mon battling, can destroy even the best team in the factory. always play it safe when afflicted. anyway, ensuring a safe switchin for a mon is of nonpareil importance. a lot of matches will be won 1-0. this is normal. most of your wins will involve killing their first mon with your first mon, revenging their second mon with your second mon, and revenging their third mon with your third mon.

my main strategy for the first few waves is keep a good, safe mon in reserve, and swap my lead depending on what i'm up against. this strategy is great since you know what they're leading with and usually one of the 3 can counter it. that puts you in a great 3-2 situation, and your good reserve mon can almost always get a mon and a half down, allowing, if all else fails, your third to clean up. you may feel dumb swapping your swampert for a mr mime but in the grand scheme of things it'll make for an easier journey.

during later rounds (anything 3 and beyond, basically), defensive synergy means a lot more than offensive synergy. this differs from regular pokemon in that your defensive synergy relies not on switching to minimize damage, but in confirming that you will not be ko'd by certain pokemon. say you have a metagross and a nidoking (dont laugh, nido is a good dude in the factory). you want a third mon like swampert or something, not to soak earthquakes on switches, but to kill the quaker after metagross dies so your nidoking doesnt auto-lose.

setting up is risky but can be worthwhile with certain mons. if, later in the game, you are blessed with a boon like set2 skarmory or set2 umbreon, don't lead with it. bring it out only vs something that can't kill it easily, then confirm 6 double teams and start cackling maniacally.

moves like stone edge suck. sometimes you have to use them, but avoid them whenever you can. mons like set4 aerodactly seem fantastic in theory, but often times games will come down to 'if stone edge hits i win and if it misses i lose'. don't put yourself in those situations. in regular pkmn, a move that will win you 8 games and lose you 2 is fantastic. in the battle factory, you can't lose two games. you can't lose any games. with half the resources a 6mon team has, a miss is twice as gamebreaking. facile math, i know, but i think it's pretty accurate.

white herb + leaf storm variation is an incredibly potent combo. roserade3 and 4 will almost always get two kills.

almost every loss i had, i could have done something to prevent it. even when you lose to bad luck, there is usually something you could have done to not put yourself in that situation. example: round 21, vs thorton. i have set3 infernape, set3 staraptor, and set3 drapion. thorton is leading with the aforementioned set2 latias. i decided i would switch to staraptor, take an intimidated zen headbutt for next to nothing, and return twice for game. i got one return off, but unfortunately, i lost to two flinches and then a crit. in retrospect, i realized that i should have swapped in drapion to negate the zen headbutt, then to staraptor to negate the eq, then back to drap to either soak a -1 neutral dragon claw or negate a zen headbutt (normally the AI will always use a perfect accuracy move over one with imperfect accuracy but in situations like this they choose randomly between them because of zen headbutt's potential flinch), then back to staraptor, and so on and so on until latias is at -6. drapion had battle armor so i could guarantee i'd be 3-2 with full health nape and full health staraptor waiting in the wings. that's too obvious an example since it's rarely as cut and dry as manipulating immunities, but i can't think of a better one right now.

always check a damage calculator when you're not sure if something will ko. remember what i said about putting yourself in bad situations?

explosion and destiny bond are incredible. simplifying to 2-2 can be risky even if your other 2 mons are great, but these two moves can easily turn a 3-2 lead into a 2-1 lead which is very, very hard to lose with.

bad items are bad, and good items are beyond incredible. leftovers turns almost anything into a good pokemon.

even when the AI starts to make the right move, you will win the occasional battle you shouldn't thanks to their attempts at prediction. when you are very low on health, the AI 'predicts' a switch and will use a move that it thinks would hit your potential switch-in for more damage. this is usually enough to kill you anyway, but sometimes you will win because it'll opt to use stone edge instead of earthquaking for game, stone edge will miss, and you'll kill it.

when the AI gets its act together, flying/levitating mons get even better and borderline staple on teams. i really cannot express the importance of being able to switch in on earthquakes freely.

the most important tip i can give you is to walk into the factory with an open mind. mons that seem terrible can be incredible, and the reverse holds true. every tyranitar is pretty terrible, while every leafeon is at least decent since it has that cheekily fast leaf blade. i have swept 4 rounds in a row with set4 walrein. walrein.

MONS

i will now give a tiny review of every mon available. that's a lot of fucking mons. sets taken from jump's guide, of course.

as a disclaimer, you may notice that a lot of my opinions contradict each other. very well then, i contradict myself (i am large, i contain multitudes). whitman aside, it's worth noting that waves 1 and 2 are very different from 3 onward. 3 onward you are playing to win. 1 and 2 you are playing to win quickly. 1 and 2 involve getting a mon with a strong earthquake and going from there. many things are great wave 1 and 2 and piss-poor later on.

awful. perma-hail will never help your team, and if it helps your team your team sucks and you need to change it. stab ice beam is pretty good, especially early game, but thats no reason to use this asshole. watch out when fighting him, grasswhistle is bullshit.

awful up until round 30+ when they start using the right moves, then sucker punch can win you a couple important games. until then enjoy sucker punching the wrong shit at the wrong time. one time i lost cause i absent-mindedly thunder waved this thing. oops!!!!!

this is actually pretty cool, choice band gives night slash the punch it needs to get shit done. i've used this guy to moderate success. don't worry too much about facing him, if your team is well-built anything with choice band is just begging to get outplayed.

not the worst guy in the world, being set1 you'll see him during wave 1 usually which means you can see exactly what theyre using and can bring him in when they dont have a ground/fighting/water mon. quick claw is funny.

focus sash metal burst is sneaky, but not overly effective. unlike weavile and a couple others, once this guy kills someone with metal burst he will do nothing to the next pokemon except scout out what set it is as he dies.

zam hits hard. good since you can scout when they have special mons and probably get in a cm or two, then sweep. definitely a good mon early on. one to be scared of too since a) bright powder is bullshit and b) even timid psychics will do a lot of damage to a lot of mons.

grass knot can solve some key problems your team may have. not much on his own (though again, timid psychic hits for a lot especially with those glasses) but an incredible team player depending on your other guys. a solid mon to pick if only because speed is everything.

i think i lost to this one time and i was really mad because it's terrible. though i hate to laud anything about altaria, rest is a very useful move in some situations as it allows you to beat any toxistaller one on one. still, fuck altaria.

what a gimmick. enjoy losing to ghosts/rocks/anything that can handle your whopping 5 pp of offensive moves. a joke to play against since you will almost always play vs it early game meaning it will never use the moves in the right order, rendering the gimmick obsolete.

i used this for rounds 36-42 in my winning streak and oh my god is it amazing. you can sneak in a couple charge beam boosts and thunder wave rest is an incredible combo, especially with a chesto backing it up. both as team support and as a sole powerhouse, this thing does not disappoint. i dont think any other mons have twave and rest.

828 | Ampharos | Quiet | Zoom Lens | Thunder | Focus Blast | Signal Beam | Power Gem | HP/SpA
this thing is scary to play against since it seems to always hit with thunder. not worth using because even 84 accuracy thunder is too risky

there are lots of sunnybeamers, this one is interesting in that it is the only one that can hit dragons while doing so. unfortunately it doesnt really hit them for anything and almost every dragon can do a lot more damage to it.

one of the myriad mons that is terrifying to go up against but just awful to use. if you have the wrong team you can lose to this thing in a heartbeat. if you have a team without earthquake or close combat but a rester or a guy who resists iron head, you can usually beat this thing by forcing it to struggle, but it will take a long fucking time. watch tv while you do it or something.

353 | Blastoise | Modest | Mystic Water | Hydro Pump | Signal Beam | Icy Wind | Mirror Coat | Def/SpA/SpD
i really wish they had given this thing some spatk to take advantage of how monstrous mystic water hydro pump is. it still is pretty potent though. mirror coat + bulk is amazing, but sadly youll get this guy early when they use random moves and mirror coat is a terrible choice

625 | Blastoise | Adamant | Life Orb | Aqua Tail | Earthquake | Avalanche | Zen Headbutt | HP/Atk
if this had waterfall i'd say it was good but it doesn't so no. even with life orb your eqs are too weak.

this guy's good. passho lets you beat random shit and for some reason whenever i use this mon is run into a tentacruel who isnt happy about how things turn out.

766 | Blaziken | Adamant | White Herb | Flare Blitz | Superpower | ThunderPunch | Night Slash | Atk/Spe
the thing about the factory is that pretty much anything with speed evs is 'fast' so this is a 'fast' mon with two of the best moves available. enjoy winning.

475 | Blissey | Modest | Chople Berry | Hyper Beam | Shadow Ball | Water Pulse | Sing | HP/SpA
every blissey is about the same. you auto-lose to physical moves (unstabbed eqs will kill you, seriously) but you cannot lose to a special mon. i sometimes like keeping a blissey on my team for thorton and, when the lady tells me hes opening with a special mon i switch into it for an easy 3-2 lead, and if thorton is leading physical i swap the blissey for something good. as for playing vs blissey, its never recommended to have an all-special team because you WILL lose to blissey eventually.

the gimmick only works half the time (effect spore + toxic orb, 'ok') and even when it does you're too frail to do anything with it. this thing can beat you sometimes with dynamicpunch though, so watch out.

839 | Bronzong | Adamant | Quick Claw | Zen Headbutt | Iron Head | Earthquake | Explosion | HP/Atk
it is worth noting that quick claw explosion always works when you want it to. one of the few things in the factory that seems stacked in your favour.

352 | Charizard | Modest | Petaya Berry | Flamethrower | Air Slash | SmokeScreen | Scary Face | SpA/Spe
this thing is incredible. if you get petaya off you win, even if you dont you can still kill a ton of shit with flamethrower, especially scary mons like set1 hippowdon who has ended some of my streaks far too early.

a top tier lead for sure. you can usually kill their lead before they kill you, blast burn will then almost always kill their second mon. its basically explosion only you get to scout the set of their third mon too!

doesnt die but doesnt really do anything either. wish it had leech seed

817 | Cradily | Calm | Leftovers | Stone Edge | Seed Bomb | Earthquake | Mirror Coat | HP/Def/SpD
this guy is pretty good cause he can survive anything and mirror coat it. better than a sash-reflector since he will usually take less than 50% from a hit and ko back with mirror coat, meaning he isnt dead weight afterwards.

can beat almost anything that doesnt set up one on one. scary mon to face if your team cant deal.

921 | Cresselia | Bold | Lum Berry | Psychic | Toxic | Double Team | Moonlight | HP/Def/SpD
would be almost unbeatable if moonlight had more pp. still a great mon to bring in when you can start double teaming

one of two mons with encore, which is sadly wasted by its superfluity in wave 2 which is when you'll probably get it. if you can get it later on, id recommend it if you have a stat upper to use alongside it.

427 | Donphan | Impish | Razor Claw | Earthquake | Rock Slide | Poison Jab | Sandstorm | Atk/Def
every donphan is good. every donphan earthquakes with a lot of attack. this one is impish so it doesnt hit very hard with anything else, but its still a good choice early game.

ive used this a couple times and it was actually decent. explosion will not kill very many pokemon but this thing can consistently deal with one and one half of a pokemon, which goes a long way, especially if you have another fast mon to clean up after trode splodes

362 | Empoleon | Adamant | Razor Claw | Waterfall | Metal Claw | Brick Break | Knock Off | Atk/SpD
not a good choice for the time youll usually get him

634 | Empoleon | Brave | Quick Claw | Surf | Earthquake | Blizzard | Signal Beam | Atk/SpA
now we're talkin. i never thought those evs would amount to anything but this guy is still bulky enough to take some serious shit, and quick claw + hitting decently from both ends of the spectrum make this mon a keeper

doesnt work. needs too many calm minds to do anything, cant overheat without being forced to switch after, etc

455 | Espeon | Timid | Lum Berry | Psychic | Reflect | Calm Mind | Baton Pass | SpA/Spe
youll never baton pass with this thing but cm psychic can do a lot of shit if they dont have a steel or a dark (and since its probably wave 1, youll know when to use this little guy)

this is one of my favourite mons. if your team likes trick room, this thing will change your life. you can almost guarantee turn 3 will involve a 2-2 score and trick room being active. not many mons can boast such advantages.

525 | Exploud | Adamant | Life Orb | Facade | Fire Punch | ThunderPunch | Ice Punch | HP/Atk
one of the only set2 mons with life orb, this is one of the better punchmasters if only because of the force behind them. plus when you use facade its basically like youre using return without life orb, which is, uh, good, i guess.

this guy isnt very good but he can do annoying shit like beat good dragons one on one (set2 can as well). the number of times ive had this thing avalanche my garchomp is much higher than id like to admit.

587 | Flygon | Jolly | Razor Fang | Fissure | Fire Punch | ThunderPunch | Aerial Ace | Atk/Spe
this is my least favourite set in the factory. why is it here? who would orchestrate such an awful thing? this set is god's punishment for an evil world.

508 | Forretress | Brave | Sitrus Berry | Payback | Stealth Rock | Toxic Spikes | Spikes | Atk/Def
ok so i know this looks terrible, and it probably is. spiking just doesnt work in 3v3. however, later on in your streak with a rester or something supporting it, toxic spikes could let you outstall most stuff that isnt immune. sadly such quixotry has no place in the high stakes world of the battle factory.

644 | Forretress | Adamant | Leftovers | Dig | Swagger | Toxic | Double Team | Atk/Def
this thing is a fink. unprepared physical-heavy teams will have a lot of trouble with it. were it not so stupidly natured/ev'd it would be one of the overall best mons in the factory.

not bad. it needs a good type matchup to take down a mon before being forced to destiny bond, so i dont like it as a lead, but it's a fantastic second mon. you bring it in against something that will die to ice beam and then get a second kill with destiny bond. works surprisingly well.

ah, gallade. the mon i want to like. twave is good, so is double stab. not a bad wave 1 mon by any stretch.

584 | Gallade | Jolly | Brightpowder | Drain Punch | Fire Punch | ThunderPunch | Ice Punch | Atk/Spe
why the fuck is the only gallade with speed also the one with the worst set? i'm kinda mad. as i've said before, anything with speed evs outspeeds most of the factory so this one is ok but he cant really ohko much and dies to everything. good as a second mon to clean up messes i guess.

856 | Gallade | Adamant | Scope Lens | Psycho Cut | Close Combat | Leaf Blade | Night Slash | Atk/SpD
i avoided this one for a long time expecting it to be almost as bad as set 3, but one time i used it as a lead and i swear it took down like 17/21 mons. it somehow still outspeeds a fair chunk of the factory even with no speed evs and it ohkos almost everything. this is glorious.

brightpowder will trigger constantly when you dont need it to, eliciting a tiny smirk from your crooked maw as you earthquake the interloper into submission. it is not your fault. this is the warped man garchomp turns you into.

such a troll set. looks awful but performs very well. on a speedy mon, focus sash is probably the best item in the factory. it confirms a second hit. there are not very many mons in the factory that can survive 2 hits from this thing, meaning as long as dragon rush wants you to you're taking out at least one mon. risky, but very effective. i normally stay away from low accuracy shit but since focus sash lets you try again for free, i'm all over this guy.

im partial to this because i used it when i won my coloured symbol. with the right support it's fantastic, and even by itself it can beat almost any special mon/double teaming toxic user one on one, and believe me, in wave 2 the latter can be devastating.

this thing's potential is wasted in wave 1, but you can do wonders with it if you get it late game. it takes paltry damage from anything special and mirror coats back for more. it's a war off attrition you always win.

518 | Gastrodon | Sassy | Zoom Lens | Muddy Water | Mud Bomb | Recover | Yawn | SpA/SpD
one of the few mons with yawn, as team support this thing is incredible and even by its lonesome it can beat almost anything special one on one and finish with full health afterwards. as long as they cant 2-shot you, you can just loop yawns and recovers until you win.

good coverage, good damage. beats a lot of stuff one on one, but can almost never get a second kill. safe mon to leave for a 1v1 stand, you can feel good even going blind into their last mon with this guy at full health. it's weird how 3/4 gastrodon sets are genuinely amazing.

whenever im against a gengar i worry that it's this one. you have a 40% chance of losing to this pokemon. it doesnt matter what your team is, you probably cant outspeed it and you sure as fuck cant beat it once it sleeps you. just hope for the best. on the flip side, when you beat it and choose to use it (and you will choose to use it) the sleep gimmick is pretty much gratuitous since modest life orb shadow ball will ohko most things. sub is a lot of fun though.

this just awful. never pick this unless you want to 50/50 everything with confuse ray bullshit

827 | Gengar | Modest | Lum Berry | Shadow Ball | Sludge Bomb | Thunderbolt | Destiny Bond | SpA/Spe
not as good as set 2 but still ok. lum helps a lot with getting dbond off, and you can usually kill a mon beforehand. redolent of gardevoir, maybe even a bit better, i havent tested with this thing enough.

one of my favourite mons for wave 1. with bad ai you can almost always confirm a swords dance and then start quaking everything in sight. if you get him later on the baton pass can make for some interesting setups. i don't think i've ever not taken him when he was available.

i used to hate this thing due to its retarded ev spread. i recently learned that it's not the worst sash reflector in the world since quake can usually do 50% to something so itll handle a mon and a half in most circumstances. you can also troll with guillotine if you really want to.

this guy is a goodie. a semi-dangerous pick since there are a lot of ice/water mons in the factory, but expert belt stone edge usually handles the ice ones. he loses to a lot but he can always take out at least 1 mon if you bring him out at the right time.

oh man, qc explosion with some awesome stab to back it up? if you have a mon to soak all the water and ice shit thats gonna be thrown at this guy (even then though, watch out for roserade leaf storms), you'll find he can take down 2 mons very consistently. i love you golem.

this guy is good. sucks that all 3 of your attacking moves lose to waters, but in wave 2 this guy's bulk will usually let you get 4 or 5 dances off, letting you destroy waters anyways. a top mon for wave 2, even useful in later waves if only for the boon that is intimidate.

better than it looks. i like this mon for round 21 a lot, as the moveset handles a lot of potential legendaries without losing to very many of them. not a good lead by any stretch but he's a very safe mon to have in your roster for wave 3.

880 | Gyarados | Adamant | Chesto Berry | Waterfall | Earthquake | Rest | Dragon Dance | Atk/Spe
oh baby. this is a monster. if your life is so rife with serendipity that you find yourself with this and a pokemon with leech seed, you will win that wave guaranteed. even without it, intimidate lets this thing dance up under most circumstances. dont ruin a good thing by making this your lead, you might as well be texting 'hello????' to a girl when she's taking a while to respond. just relax man.

a good wave 2 mon. fake out is loads of fun, revenge is basically close combat and fling/payback lets you take out those pesky psychic mons who only have a 1/4 shot of using psychic against you anyway. thick fat is also great if you get it.

damn you are good. make sure you have a team that can handle the myriad water mons in the factory, as those are the only things that will stop you. most quakers with stab are slow and get ko'd by flash cannon, and this thing takes unstabbed quakes and can almost always ohko back. use ancientpower as a finisher where permitting for a 10% chance of hilarious results!

920 | Heatran | Adamant | Quick Claw | Iron Head | Earthquake | Stone Edge | Crunch | HP/Atk
ugh. whenever i see heatran in my opening roster i get soooo excited and then it's usually this one. this is just stupid. his bountiful resistances are meaningless in the factory, there are just too many waters. skip it and dont look back.

934 | Heatran | Modest | Brightpowder | Flamethrower | Earth Power | Dragon Pulse | Dark Pulse | HP/SpA
slightly better than set1. that brightpowder can put in work and allow you to win some games that you really shouldn't be winning. earth power is pretty fantastic too. the spread lets you take physical hits a bit better too which is always welcome.

i love this guy. he's kind of weird and requires a proper team so you don't burn your sash on stupid shit, but he can usually take 2 mons. still surprisingly fast even with quiet, just be careful of magma storm's accuracy.

astonishing pokemon, especially with swarm. endrevving is an incredible tactic once the AI starts to do the right shit (sometimes they start at wave 4, sometimes not til wave 5 or even 6 so be careful). also a really good choice for thorton if you're lucky enough to get it in your opening 6 wave 3, you can reliably 3-0 him with this thing.

if your team is all physical you will have a very, very hard time beating this. it's not as good when you use it since it makes battles take longer than they should, but youve still got that mighty eq even without setup, so its not that bad a choice.

868 | Hippowdon | Adamant | Quick Claw | Earthquake | Stone Edge | Crunch | Thunder Fang | HP/Atk
quick claw earthquake is something to watch out for, but not nearly as good if youre using it. good if your team likes sandstorm though (but such a team is usually risky)

i never really get a chance to use this guy but a fast willowisp is always welcome. why isn't shadow ball dark pulse ?_? considering how many things charizard's flamethrower ohkos, i could see this tearing through teams

i fucking loathe this thing. that sitrus berry lets it randomly beat good stuff one on one and it's infuriating since it'll always happen to you and you'll never get to use it because you're not going to be using hypno, come on man

heroic. close combat is all you need for wave 1. if you're lucky enough to get him later on you can do some neat stuff with fake out/uturn, and cleverly switch him back in at the right time to get into blaze range.

adamant muscle band blaze kick will do a lot of damage. you can rely on this guy for wave 2. handles common threats like set2 ludicolo, set2 skarmory, set2 venusaur et al. laugh at gunk shot all you want, it's your main out to that fucking ludicolo.

a solid mon. brightpowder is fun obviously, flamethrower is tremendous. even with poor ai, you can usually force yourself into blaze range with a sunny day, meaning flamethrower will destroy pretty much everything. dont focus blast unless you have to, you will lose if it misses.

truly the boss. flare blitz/cc with this speed just tears through the competition, and when you flinch with one of them you will feel so full of vim and joie de vivre you will earnestly consider kissing your best female friend who you're secretly in love with. you're perfect for each other, that's why you've been close for so long.

not bad, tbolt deals with the surpluss of water mons, and focus sash lets you get 2 of them off which will usually kill most mons. the fact that you have to switch whenever a ground comes along really slows things during wave 1, so i wouldn't recommend this thing.

this mon is a prime example of how capricious and silly the battle factory can be. in theory, it's terrible. look at that set. all it should be able to do is get off a fast yawn. that is how i felt about this jolteon until one day when i was going into round 21 and i was told thorton is leading with infernape. i decide to lead with this thing. rain dance as it flare blitzes, thunder for the kill. in comes articuno. thunder. in comes suicune. thunder. thunder. jolteonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

very good choice wave 1. if you have swift swim you can rain dance as a pseudo special dragon dance. even if you don't, surf tears through most stuff and you cant lose to waters thanks to dragon pulse.

oh man, this thing. you need 2 dances to outspeed anything but if you can get them off you will win guaranteed. this is one of my fave mons for wave 3, since even unboosted outrage will kill a ton of shit and vs thorton you can almost always take out a mon. don't bother with dancing vs thorton unless you're absolutely sure you can get 2 off. 1 is a waste of time since you're still slow.

it's funny, i've never had luck with the latis before. i don't know why. whenever i get the chance to use it, i always run into a fast physical mon right after and then it dies. if it was speedy it would be amazing. still a good choice, you'll probably have better lucky with it than i did.

LUMMIBALLY. this thing puts in some fucking work. it's hard to deal with, and is a veritable threat to a lot of teams. use it if you think you can get a curse off, cause after that it's smooth sailing.

now we're talking. muscle banded adamant close combat will cause the fabric of space to warp and bend at your behest. blaze kick is surprisingly useful for dealing with fuckers like venusaur who always seem to pop up when you're on a close combat spree.

one of the best sets in the entire factory. it is very, very hard to lose wave 2 if you have this. when the ai gets smart its potential is stymied a bit, but it can still put in work if you bring it in at the right time.

571 | Machamp | Adamant | Focus Sash | Revenge | Earthquake | Payback | Counter | Def/SpD
dont bother with counter, but revenge will deal with almost every threat. this mon just simplifies the game. it takes out one thing and then it dies.

an all-star. the only thing that beats this pokemon is earthquake, and considering during wave 1 their quaking mon only has a 1/4 chance of firing it off, you'll be able to kill them first. amazing too if you can get this later in the game, 8 turn screens are game-winning in 3v3.

surprisingly good. very good choice when you get it as set2 is riddled with toxic users who will all fall to your mighty steel husk.

756 | Metagross | Adamant | Occa Berry | Hammer Arm | ThunderPunch | Ice Punch | Aerial Ace | Atk/Def
looks terrible, but for some reason this thing performs very well. i can't really explain why since it has no stab and its moves are lacking, but just try it and you'll see what i mean.

413 | Mismagius | Modest | Kasib Berry | Shadow Ball | Power Gem | Magical Leaf | Memento | SpA/Spe
this thing tends to memento vs you a lot which is annoying since it forces a switch. ive never had a chance to use it late game but it would be damned good with a dragon dancer or something.

777 | Mr. Mime | Modest | Choice Specs | Psychic | Charge Beam | Shadow Ball | Focus Blast | SpA/SpD
not a good lead at all due to its physical frailty, but if you keep it on your team and bring it out vs some special threats it'll put in a lot of work.

I LOVE YOU BULKYWRATH. this is one of my favourite mons. lax incense always triggers it seems, and this thing can just bulk up forever, especially if you get it with one of the myriad leech seeding mons during wave 2.

PORY2. i am biased about this set since i used it when i beat thorton2. thunder wave and bulk like this is fantastic. really good during wave 1 just cause of that special attack and a possible download boost. yeehaw.

this is the coolest set in the factory. i almost never get it but the combo potential is endless. you either trickscarf and set up your goodie, or you tear through the team with a fast powered up tri attack. this thing's potential is wasted during wave 2, but if you're lucky enough to get it later abuse the fuck out of it.

733 | Probopass | Adamant | Scope Lens | Stone Edge | Iron Head | Earthquake | Explosion | Atk/Def
not bad if only because it's a mon with explosion on set3. can be useful against thorton if you want to simplify the battle and hope for the best.

this thing is monstrous. always watch out for this mon during wave 2 because it can randomly beat unprepared teams. not worth using in wave 2 since it just takes too long, but has incredible utility later game both because of bulk + yawn for team support and because it can set up on a lot, and once it sets up you win. watch out for dive's pp though.

surprisingly viable. adamant muscle band eq is potent. this can beat a lot of stuff one on one, keeping him in the wings can help you recover from a seemingly game-ending crit on your lead if you play him right.

terrible mon, watch out for it though. anything with fast parafusion can wreck your shit if you're unlucky. lucky those focus punches don't really hit for very much.

650 | Raichu | Timid | Petaya Berry | Thunderbolt | Focus Blast | Signal Beam | Nasty Plot | SpA/Spe
pretty solid lead, surprisingly. can usually get a np off and then wrecks most stuff afterwards. one time vs thorton i brought this in as a lead knowing that his first mon couldnt quite ohko me, so i got a nasty plot + petaya off and then tore through the team.

i've used this a couple times to great effect. waters are everywhere and a fast volt tackle will solve a lot of problems. noticeably weaker than set4 arcanine's flare blitz, but with a way better attacking type. can't take any hits but usually doesn't need to. not a good lead, just bring him in to quickly revenge something and hope their followup mon is water. twave is techy, too.

this is probably better than set1, even without a team that likes rain. if you lead with it and you can usually get a rain dance off due to your bulk, and then modest wiseglasses thunders will destroy everything. i find set1 raikou has this bad habit of doing 75% to stuff with tbolts, and id much rather go rain dance into thunder for the ohko and have 3 turns of thunders left.

940 | Raikou | Modest | Shuca Berry | Thunderbolt | Extrasensory | Shadow Ball | Calm Mind | SpA/Spe
amazing, but not quite as good as it seems, i found myself unable to get a calm mind off very reliably. still the best raikou set thanks to that shuca and modest.

sp atk is too low, way better fires in wave 1, and fires in general arent very good since wave 1 is you spamming earthquake and your mon eventually dying to a probable water mon, making fires a bad followup choice.

now we're talking. the number of times i've ohko'd 2 mons in a row with flare blitz and horn drilled the third is more than 1. fast flare blitzes that hit like a truck thanks to adamant, the brightpowder just makes you even cuter. a very solid choice for the impending thorton battle.

pales in comparison to set 3 due to lackluster item and a lesser nature. that hypnosis can put in a bit of work but relying on 60% when you're this far in the game? take some time and think about it, hotshot.

one of the best mons in the factory. find something you can set up on and don't stop until you're +6+6+6. even with +6 hammer arm wont be doing much but who cares, you're invincible. clear body makes this set shine.

im not sure if this is worse than set1 or not. less firepower and a far worse moveset, but those evs and chestorest can let you survive a ton. this also makes it impossible to lose to bullshit stall mons. a rester on your team is never a bad idea.

imagine it; you're at battle 45. this thing comes out. you hit it for 30%. it double teams. you quickly realize that the situation is nowhere near as malleable as you wish it were. you then see two menacing steel behemoths begin to robotically 'eat' whatever their leftovers are. the image is so fey and so surreal that you are on the verge of tears. you attack again and you miss, it double teams a second time. three registeels are now consuming something in front of you, but you still can't make out what it is. their movements are jerky yet calculated. they feed almost ritualistically. your palms are sweaty. you quickly check this list to see what its exact moveset is, but you don't really know why. you know what its moveset is. you've always known. maybe you were trying to buy time? you attack and it misses for the second time. your pokemon is encircled by four registeels, and you swear you hear it make a mournful sound.

late in the game you have safer mons with earthquake, so i dont see a use for this. watch out for quick claw horn drill though. that dirty, sticky feeling your skin gets afterwards lasts forever. there is no ablution but through the death of the self, or of thorton.

takes an absolute pittance from physical mons (if you have solid wrock, im pretty sure flygon eq is a 4hko) but cant reliably beat very much. also loses to most things special, but if someone like zam decides to not focus blast you, payback is cool.

493 | Sceptile | Timid | Leftovers | Giga Drain | Leech Seed | Toxic | Double Team | SpA/Spe
the worst leech seeder due to its frailty, but its niche is that its fast enough to guarantee getting a seed off before dying, so if you have another setup mon you can keep him healthy.

509 | Skarmory | Careful | Leftovers | Fly | Toxic | Double Team | Roost | HP/Def/SpD
this is the best pokemon in the factory, bar none. i have killed 21 straight pokemon in a round with this thing multiple times. not 'fainted'. killed. you don't faint from poison. or you do, and then you die afterwards. always make sure your team during wave 2 has an answer to this, otherwise you may as well turn your game off when you see it. in the past i've got 4 crits on it and still lost. it is unfairly durable.

sometimes you have a steel mon or something and this uses flamethrower and you kind of get nervous and then you watch your pokemon's health drop and you notice it stops kind of early and you think 'wait a minute do i have an occa berry' and then you remember that skuntank is fucking garbage

ok i lied, skuntank is kind of cool. explosion? how stinky would THAT be

486 | Slaking | Impish | Lax Incense | Facade | Shadow Claw | Slack Off | Yawn | HP/Def
total bother to run into wave 1. takes forever to beat this thing with a physical mon, especially since it seems to always use yawn as its first move. dies to almost anything special though, dont worry.

such a cockblock. one of the best set1 mons, even +1 return puts nails in coffins. really stressful to play against, youll go first and hit it for 40% as it yawns, then youre forced to switch out as it yawns again and gains health from lefties, then yawns a third time and you realize that your hard work is being undone but theres no way it would yawn a 4th time so you switch, but it fucking does

rest would be useful to combat all the stall mons in wave 2, but considering this cant actually beat any of them (im pretty sure everything will gain like 30% per turn from leech seed) its not a good choice

653 | Staraptor | Adamant | Muscle Band | Brave Bird | Return | Steel Wing | Pursuit | Atk/Spe
oh yes yes yes. adamant muscle band lets return show you just how much this bird cares about you. brave bird makes a mockery of all things. steel wing is cute vs rocks or whatever. you still cant do much vs steels but by the time you get this you care less about rushing through the wave and more about longterm usefulness, which this mon has in spades.

789 | Staraptor | Adamant | Choice Band | Brave Bird | Giga Impact | Close Combat | U-turn | Atk/Spe
wish it had return over giga impact, but yeah, this thing is a monster. can come in quite easily on most things physical thanks to indimiate, and quickly destroy with brave bird/close combat. u-turn is kinda sneaky, useful if you want to get a second intimidate off.

man this thing is bulky. i beat a set4 garchomp one on one with this, outrage couldn't even 2hko and i eventually got some outrage confusion masochism and took the win. i love you, tangrowth.

878 | Tangrowth | Adamant | Lax Incense | Power Whip | Earthquake | Aerial Ace | Brick Break | Atk/Def
not that great, power whip would be good vs all the waters but most of them are special and thus outspeed and ohko with ice shit before you even get a chance.

i swear to god this thing's qc always triggers. not worth using due to that ass typing. if you want to risk it for the biscuit i guess you can try to wood hammer waters before they ice beam you. maybe that's something you're into.

nice coverage, but this is just far too slow. you need 3 dances to outspeed anything and you'll be dead by then even with chople. this guy can reliably kill a mon but he almost always gets revenged. sorry tyra. you're still the best mon irl.

456 | Umbreon | Careful | Leftovers | Payback | Confuse Ray | Curse | Baton Pass | Def/SpD
likes to use baton pass as its first move. waste of time during wave 1 but if you can somehow snag this in later waves and cursepass to something good, man, this thing would be lovely.

36% fissure aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. this guy is a force to be reckoned with, fucking perfect accuracy hydro pumps. i swear this guy always comes in when you have an amazing mon like zapdos or garchomp or salamence, and he just kills them. like, theres nothing you can do. you lose to fucking whiscash.

oh man, this guy is great. wish it had air slash but whatever!!! brightpowder to dick everyone around. heat wave is super neat too. perfect typing, one of the better mons for sure.

man, that was arduous. your mileage will totally vary, and the factory has a charming way of making my opinion on most mons labile due to just how random the whole shebang is. i hope my guide helps you on your journey! i realize that i namedrop other mons in my analyses enough to make ctrl+f a bit of a task but whatever!!

that was an excellently written article, truly. i have been fiddling with factory on and off since platinum came out and I think that I have a silver symbol...the sheer amount of work put into this is amazing

also it was pretty funny -- you just lost to whiscash. also king's rock infernape.

While i'm not a battle tower kind of guy, I can appreciate the amount of work you put into this. What kept me reading was the individual Pokemon descriptions, you did an excellent job summarizing 400+ pokemon. The majority of them were interesting, humorous, amazing or all of them combined.

Congrats won´t mean anything to you, because you feel the satisfaction of a superhuman achievment. Noone can take it away from you. You lived and you won.

If there is one person out there who is able to comprehend this epic effort, it´s me. The only difference is, that after taking hundreds of hours to beat the emerald battle factory (see first link in my sig what it made me do), I simply couldn´t find enough will to seriously go for it in plat factory. It wouldn´t have any value anymore. Also being totally helpless in the hands of the randomness that is factory, you know there´s a certain level of masochism in each of us. I´ve pretty much used up mine in emerald. I´m thankful for that experience. I´m sure now you´re able to smile at a kick into your balls, because that pain doesn´t last the hours you need to get back up to 28, only to have a horrible choice of 6 after swapping in each and every single battle before, etc.

If someone asks, why? why all of this ridiculous effort, for some symbol noone cares about? The answer is...a man must do what he must do and beating the odds is manly.

But back to this awesomeness, I found the following comments be highlights for me:

429 | Claydol | Brave | Kasib Berry | Earthquake | Zen Headbutt | Grass Knot | Trick Room | Def/SpD
i remember one time i used earthquake with this thing and it did 20% to tauros and i actually turned my game off

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actually, turning your game off in the first "wave" is standard play in my book

880 | Gyarados | Adamant | Chesto Berry | Waterfall | Earthquake | Rest | Dragon Dance | Atk/Spe
oh baby. this is a monster. if your life is so rife with serendipity that you find yourself with this and a pokemon with leech seed, you will win that wave guaranteed. even without it, intimidate lets this thing dance up under most circumstances. dont ruin a good thing by making this your lead, you might as well be texting 'hello????' to a girl when she's taking a while to respond. just relax man.

truly the boss. flare blitz/cc with this speed just tears through the competition, and when you flinch with one of them you will feel so full of vim and joie de vivre you will earnestly consider kissing your best female friend who you're secretly in love with. you're perfect for each other, that's why you've been close for so long.

imagine it; you're at battle 45. this thing comes out. you hit it for 30%. it double teams. you quickly realize that the situation is nowhere near as malleable as you wish it were. you then see two menacing steel behemoths begin to robotically 'eat' whatever their leftovers are. the image is so fey and so surreal that you are on the verge of tears. you attack again and you miss, it double teams a second time. three registeels are now consuming something in front of you, but you still can't make out what it is. their movements are jerky yet calculated. they feed almost ritualistically. your palms are sweaty. you quickly check this list to see what its exact moveset is, but you don't really know why. you know what its moveset is. you've always known. maybe you were trying to buy time? you attack and it misses for the second time. your pokemon is encircled by four registeels, and you swear you hear it make a mournful sound.

you press buttons. you writhe. you writhe and then you lose.

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THIS COMMENT DIDN´T JUST MAKE MY DAY, IT MADE MY YEAR!!! [size=-2]yeah now people think that my life sucks but whatever, at least I get a good laugh once in a while[/size]

this is the best pokemon in the factory, bar none. i have killed 21 straight pokemon in a round with this thing multiple times. not 'fainted'. killed. you don't faint from poison. or you do, and then you die afterwards. always make sure your team during wave 2 has an answer to this, otherwise you may as well turn your game off when you see it. in the past i've got 4 crits on it and still lost. it is unfairly durable.

such a cockblock. one of the best set1 mons, even +1 return puts nails in coffins. really stressful to play against, youll go first and hit it for 40% as it yawns, then youre forced to switch out as it yawns again and gains health from lefties, then yawns a third time and you realize that your hard work is being undone but theres no way it would yawn a 4th time so you switch, but it fucking does

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you´d think lax would fall asleep like the friggin anime teaches but no, it keeps on yawning and after a while, you just want to wake up, like for real?

36% fissure aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. this guy is a force to be reckoned with, fucking perfect accuracy hydro pumps. i swear this guy always comes in when you have an amazing mon like zapdos or garchomp or salamence, and he just kills them. like, theres nothing you can do. you lose to fucking whiscash.

brightpowder will trigger constantly when you dont need it to, eliciting a tiny smirk from your crooked maw as you earthquake the interloper into submission. it is not your fault. this is the warped man garchomp turns you into.

hey thanks nice guide, any chance of doing something similar for lvl 50 (yeah it would take a lot of time...) or at least comparing the difficulty of lvl 50 and lvl 100?

edit: just caught the line in the opening paragraph concerning this... still lvl 50 is interesting to compare once you get past the 3rd set.

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i spent a few hours messing with lv50 and its certainly interesting. fewer intricacies than lv100, at least superficially.

for reference: 'baddies' are mons that dont appear in lv100 factory. 'goodies' are mons that do.

basically up until round 21 (so thorton) you only play vs baddies. however, if you swap a lot, you can have goodies in your opening 6. hold onto them, obviously. thorton himself uses goodies only, it seems. he is incredibly challenging. my win against him was through sheer luck. im told hes opening with megahorn hera, and thankfully im leading with return/drill peck fearow. drill peck for ohko. in comes breloom, which makes me grin. drill peck again, he hangs on with sash, sky uppercuts for like 90%, i kill with drill. he brings in nape. nape kills with fake out. i have set1 bronzong (which, hilariously, was my best sweeper for the first few rounds of wave 3. 100 attack is pretty huge in a sea of smoochums and shit) and a fucking stantler. i bring in zong, trick room hoping he doesnt crit with fire punch (he doesnt), extrasensory for 70%, i get an unneeded flinch, ko next turn.

the two times i faced thorton, all his mons were goodies and set 1. i would assume it's always like that. after beating him, my opening 6 from then on were always goodies (but thats probably because i swapped every time), though for wave 4 you still play vs some baddies, but there are some goodies and they are all set1. at this point i had set1 alakazam vs stuff like tangela, 'oh ok'.

once i hit wave 5 i started running into only goodies, and they are all set2. i got to round 35, and since during the last round of a wave you fight mons with sets from the next wave, i fought/lost to a team of set3 mons (jynx destroyed my team of set3 vire/set2 poliwrath/set2 roserade).

as for how the opening roster works im really not sure. all i know is i swapped every time for my two streaks and the time i got past thorton, my opening 6 from there on were always goodies of varying sets (but nothing set4, you probably have to reach wave 6 to unlock set4 [assuming you swapped every time] or wave 7). you probably shouldnt swap wantonly after thorton1 though, my wave 4 i opened zam1/gliscor1/dragonite2 and when given the opportunity to swap into seaking/tangela/pelipper i politely declined.

all in all 50 is kinda cool, first couple waves are completely ridiculous (gloom ohkos riolu with mega drain lol) and mons like sableye reign supreme, and you basically need to swap every time to have a chance at beating thorton. third wave you better hope you open some useful goodies in your opening 6, otherwise it's an uphill battle.

i think what's most interesting about the lv50 factory is that the damage calculations are noticeably different due to how wonky (relative to lv100) the stats are. stuff like electivire being ohkod by set1 granbull's return really caught me off guard.

im glad you guys enjoy it. i know not many people are into the factory but i had a ton of fun writing it, and i'll certainly do a 5th gen one (assuming grey or whatever has the frontier) much sooner in its life than this one

yea, this is a great guide, Glen. Battle Factory is also my fave, since I can start playing on the Frontier without the bother of raising mons. It's definitely a hit-or-miss, but your guide helps optimize the chance of success.